Let's see if I can explain this clearly. I am using Indesign 5.5 to generate a book TOC. The format I want is:

Frame 1 (A chapter number that isn't printed) then a tab then Frame 2 then right ident tab for the page number. There is enough room to be all on one line.

Frame 1 is on a non printing layer (from layer 2); Frame 2 is the chapter title (on layer 1). Each frame has a seperate paragraph style. In the toc dialog box I have tried to set both frames as level one with the number coming after frame 2; I have tried them on two different levels with no number after one and the number right indented after frame 2 BUT they always come out the same: frame 2 comes first then on a seperate line is frame 1 (these frames are backward) and the page number prints on a third line.

The built-in TOC feature grabs entire paragraphs (and in the order they appear on the page). It cannot build a single entry from multiple paragraphs. You might want to put both pieces of the listing into one non-printing paragraph. I have no idea, at the moment, why your page number is appearing on a new line, though.